Ireland (Dublin + Wicklow and Glendalough)

Just came back from a trip to Ireland - and hopefully the first of many stamps in my passport. It was a great trip - got to see a lot of the sights and meet some of the locals as well as the other visitors (including more Americans studying in London - we all seem to have the same idea so we keep coming across each other). The locals we talked to were extremely friendly and helpful, and in an outward way, which was in contrast to most people in London, who are nice but are more reserved in showing it.

Pictures of Dublin - shows what we did most of the day Saturday. We also ended up going to dinner and a comedy show that night, where we were careful not to identify ourselves as Americans so as to dodge the brunt of the American jokes that I'm sure the comedians had.

The next day we ended up taking a guided bus tour through some of the Irish countryside. It was incredible how different everything looked as we were passing through a relatively short distance. We first passed along the coast, where the architecture and the landscape (including palm trees!) reminded me of California or Mexico (although the weather/water wasn't quite as warm). Transitioning from the coast to the mountains reminded me of parts of Florida/South Carolina in its flatness and it's sea-side feel (but without quite being able to see the actual coast). It had just snowed the night before (a rarity, apparently, due to the mediating effects of the Gulf Stream that dominates Ireland's weather) and the fresh snow was very nice on the mountains/trees. The rest of the day was mostly the mountains, which reminded me of pictures I'd seen of Colorado/the rockies and what I imagined the countryside to be like; very picturesque and tranquil with the occasional medieval stone buildings dotting the landscape.

Pictures of Wicklow and Glendalough

The Roman baths (bath)

We went to the site of the original Roman baths (circa 1st century AD) in britain today. For whatever reason, I thought that it would be like Stonehenge, in that it was in the middle of nowhere and that it wouldn't be very large. It actually ended up being a pretty sizable city, but it was indeed in the middle of the countryside. I think our tour guide summed it up very acutely when he said:

Great place to come and visit for a few weeks; not the best place to come and live

It was very picturesque though (pictures coming soon), and the original baths, built around the natural hot spring that was regarded as sacred, were pretty sweet. It's interesting that, as time goes on and cities build upwards, that the actual complex is actually under street level today and is still only partially excavated.

Some thoughts:

1. The whole city was made out of stone, with only a few exceptions. This made it really hard to tell what was built when, since it all looks the same. It was an interesting effect.
2. The city is in a valley of sorts, so that you get a great view of the whole thing as you're coming in and leaving the city.
   
3. The romans were badass...the sheer size and ingenuity of the baths complex and the fact that it was a place of pilgrimage for people (and that they were even able to travel that far!) in the empire suggests a complexity that is hard to imagine was attained more than two millennia ago. Their influences on us today aren't always readily apparent but they surely are widespread.

Side note: butler has a sizable number of people...over 100+ from schools across britain came for the trip and we filled 3.5 coaches. Also, after overnight trips to Edinburgh and back, and a 2.5 hour trip to bath I have decided that I hate coaches.

Edinburgh

Pictures here

More commentary later?